Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Centre Pompidou, 2

And here are a few of the monstrosities, desecrations, stupidities, inanities...most requiring no comment...




























Interesting signage...none of the works numbered nor identified, except for the
listing on the right; it got better, though not in English too




























60 square feet of 2 foot high bristles; left the camera very confused














Cy Twombley's Achilles Mourning the Death of Patroclus must surely be the
pride of this or any contemporary art show; incredibly, we ran into more of his
"work" at the Louvre the next day














Manure; or should have been














I was very tempted to contribute; but didn't








































Women at Work; installation art














Some sort of statement about excess going on here





































































































Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Centre Pompidou, 1

After St. Germain-en-Laye, we still had enough energy to visit the Pompidou. We are only mild fans of contemporary art, and our modest expectations were nearly met. The permanent "modern" collection remains our favorite part of this museum. (Except they never have the right Roualts on display). Here are a few items we liked.
The Pompidou Centre from Place Pompidou














A bit of a parody whose title I didn't get
















Georgia O'Keefe




















You've heard of the Cubists; this is one of the lesser-known Cylinderistes

















Alfred Courmes' Sebastien, 1934

Otto Dix, Portrait of the Journalist Silvia von Harden, 1926

Picasso Harlequin, 1901




















Pierre Boucher, Volubilis, Maroc, 1937; photo-shopped?





















Victor Brauner, Hitler, 1934




















Speaks volumes to me














A stunning very large format photo, Ahmed Mater, North Gate, Mecca, 2012

St. Germain-en-Laye: le musee d'Archeologie nationale, 2

Continuing our tour of the National Archeological Museum at St. Germain-en-Laye...
Nice metal weapons and such, and molds















But it is the Celtic gold work that is a knock-out...various
torcs...
















Thus















Closer up















Golden cone, half a meter high




















More fine gold work















Gallic helmet















More gold















Glass bracelets















Gallic coins















Gallo-Roman floor mosaic















Detail















Gallo-Roman glass

St. Germain-en-Laye: le musee d'Archeologie nationale, 1

We first visited the National Museum of Archaeology in 1989. France has many archaeological museums, dispersed throughout the country and generally associated with specific sites, standing stones, dolmens, caves and their art, and so on. There are many such sites in the UK, and Ireland, excellent ones, and some also in Spain and Portugal. But it is difficult to imagine a place with a greater concentration and diversity of paleolithic and neolithic sites than France. The National Museum at St. Germain-en-Laye is a kind of national compendium, covering the paleolithic up to Gaul and the Romans. It is has one surpassing treasure, IMHO, and we'll get to that below.
Older paleolithic tools and a couple of Neantherthal skulls















Figurines...30,000 year old artifacts...




















Female figurines...obviously influenced by
Rubens





















And the surpassing treasure...the Dame a la capuche...carved
from mammoth  ivory, found in the Grotto de Pape a
Brassempouy; Gravettian, about 25,000 years old, give or
take...the Mona Lisa of the paleolithic, one might say,
although I think that gives way too much credit to the
Giaconda


















Another view

















Closer up artsy view (from a poster at the
musee)





















More fine carving




















Ditto




















Ditto again




















And again




















And a large relief, similar to many we have seen in the south
west of France
















And now, presto, fast-forward a dozen millennia or so, and
we are in the neolithic period, looking at beautiful ceremonial
hand axes, of jade, from Brittany; I still hope to find one on
Carnac plage...


















Jade bracelets and necklaces




















Neolithic pottery















And carved standing stone, also from Brittany




















And now, shazzam! we are in the iron age, Gauls and Celts
and such